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I have arrived!! I was planning on posting last night, but I ended up passing out at 9pm (actually pretty impressed I was able to stay up until 9pm!). Right now I am sitting in my wonderful hostel in central Sydney, just ate some delicious brekkie (god the Australian's have wonderful terminology!) and am getting ready to start out on my adventures for the day. Sydney really feels a lot like SF in terms of how diverse it is and the attitude of the city. Although for how international SF is, it can not challenge the amazing amount of languages you hear pass by you on the street here. It is also very clear the British basis of the city when you look at some of the street names: George Street, Liverpool, King Street.
But let me back up a little bit...

Monday afternoon I was packing and talking to my roommate Scott who was giving me advice about Australia. He warned me that I should be careful because Austrian's are dangerous. "Dangerous?!" I said, I have always thought of the Australian's as a pretty peaceful people. To which he replies, "They are dangerous because they are charming and they are all going to fall in love with you!" (Don't know about that quite yet, the only time I have had my pants charmed off so far was last night by a couple old ladies who I really wanted to adopt me). So then I was off to the airport. My friend Rob had the genius idea of asking at check-in if there were any upgrades because of my ankle. Turns out the lady helping me had been planning to hike Mt. Fuji with her sister for her 40th birthday (she is half Japanese, so this was really significant for her), but her sister hurt her foot a few months before and she still hasn't gone. So she took pity on me and upgraded me for free to Economy Plus which had some more legroom and I sat next to a very nice couple who gave me the aisle seat so they could peer out the window together.

I arrived at my hostel Wednesday (Tuesday never existed for me, hope I didn't miss anything important!) after of course not much sleep but so excited to go out to explore. My hostel is very nice, big thank you's to Timmy for the recommendation. It is a huge, dorm style building and I am sharing my room with 5 other people (a German girl with a serious exercise obsession, 2 guys from England who are very impressed than an American plays futbol, Miguel from Germany and a mystery person who came in late last night) and share a bathroom with the whole floor. So after I showered, where is the first place I stop? Scruffy Murphy's Pub! I mean please, how could I not?! Got a pint of Toohey's New (Side note: sleep deprivation and beer make a very interesting combination!) and then wandered through Hyde Park to the Australian Museum. The weather was overcast and drizzly, so I decided to check out some indoor activities. What drew me to that museum was the Indigenous Australian exhibit they had there. (Another side note: found out from my research that "aboriginal" is not a PC term, similar to how it is frowned upon to call Native Americans "Indians". The proper term is "Indigenous Australians"). However, as soon as I step inside I see a sign that says "Dinosaurs Second Floor". Um...YES PLEASE! They had at least 5 fully assembled dinosaur skeletons that towered up to the huge marble ceilings. Incredible. I walked back through the park, past the ANZAK Memorial (Australian New Zealand Army Corps, in honor of those who fought and died fighting for Britain in WWI) on my way to a church I had passed earlier that was having a Healing Service that night. I was hoping to be able to go to a service while I was here, but worried that most services would be Sundays (when I will be in the Blue Mountains) and was very excited the timing on this one worked out. The church was a stunning English style Cathedral covered with stained glass and the people were so kind and asking all about my trip. It was a beautiful service with lots of singing and psalms, very lovely.

I am having to relearn how to be a traveler since it has been a little while, such as remembering to look right and THEN left since traffic travels in the opposite direction and remembering that every sports bar is going to have futbol on and really couldn't give a rat's ass about the World Series :). I am also having to take it easy and do things like take the elevator instead of the stairs (which is so counter-intuitive to me). But now that I have gotten some sleep and feeling back in my traveling shoes, I can't stop smiling and am so incredibly happy to be here and excited about all the things I have yet to do! Not sure what today holds, it is drizzling again and most of the things I wanted to check out are outdoors, so we shall see. I will post again when I can!
So much love to you all,
Sanje


No tally ideas yet, sorry guys! It seems those were the most popular part of my New Zealand blogs, but I will see what inspires me.

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